Middle East Kingdoms

Ancient Syria

Arpad

This was an early Syrian city founded somewhere at the end of the third millennium BC.
Now known as Tell Erfad, it was close to the city of Alep, and was a subject of the state of
Yamkhad which was ruled from Alep. The surviving mound was excavated in
the 1950s and 1960s, although access to the site is difficult. A mud brick
fortification wall dated to the sixteenth or fifteenth centuries BC was
discovered, as were some basalt and limestone masonry remains which may have
belonged to the later Aramaean city.

c.2000 - 1340 BC

From its initial founding until the fourteenth century, Arpad is controlled
by Yamkhad.

c.1340 BC

Suppiluliuma, the new
Hittite ruler, takes direct control of much of northern
Syria,
including Alep and Arpad.

c.1200 BC

With the collapse of the
Hittite empire, and the general instability which grips the region, some
cities in Syria are destroyed, while
Arpad probably comes under the control of the Hittites in
Carchemish.

Bit Agusi (Akhan / Yakhan)

The Aramaeans moved into
Syria
once
Assyrian influence faded in the twelfth to tenth centuries BC, and took over many
cities. The historical record is very sketchy until the ninth century, so
little is known of how they took over in Arpad. In doing so they removed the
city from under the
control of Carchemish, and formed the minor state of
Bit Agusi (which included Napigu and later
Aleppo), perhaps only shortly before the
Assyrian invasion of around 870 BC. The state of
Pattin formed their westerly
neighbour, while Bit Adini and
Carchemish were to the immediate north.

fl c.870 BC

Gusi of Yakhan / Gusu / Agusi

Dynasty founder.

c.870 BC

Ashurnasirpal II crosses the Euphrates with his
Assyrian army, erupting into
Syria.
Bit Agusi's territory is one of many invaded by him, and Gusi pays tribute.

Shalmaneser III seizes a town from Bit Agusi in which Arame still rules.

mid-700s - 740 BC

Mati'ilu

743 - 740 BC

The
Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III besiege Bit Agusi for three years,
thanks to it being an ally of Urartu. Once captured, the city is destroyed
and its inhabitants are massacred. A coalition of princes which had been
allied to the city is also defeated, including the kings of Kummuhu,
Que,
Carchemish, and
Gurgum. Bit Agusi is never repopulated.